Daniel sent me this picture. It was dark when the twister hit, but he says this is illuminated by lightning (it's also as the twister is picking up, I think). This picture is taken from Clinton St about 2 blocks west and 4 blocks south of my apartment.

Relevant news from CNN and the Daily Iowan

Damage report:
The things that made me the saddest were
- The crop of daffoldils that had just bloomed near the psyc building have all had their necks broken, so they'll be wilted by this afternoon (I snagged one that had been completely decapitated and I have a pretty little daffodil to brighten my office)
- RIGHT outside of my building, four or five large trees were completely severed at their bases or pulled up at their roots (and they weren't pine trees like we're used to seeing easily destroyed, these boys were sturdy)
- I haven't seen it, but I know St Patrick's church was destroyed which is really sad because it was one of the prettiest in a town full of pretty churches (the good news is the parishoners were all safe in the basement when it went). PICTURE

Funny things
- Too many people running around with their camera phones (I stepped into one guy's shot on purpose because he was taking it from a car and everyone is supposed to avoid driving in downtown, so it bugged me that he was gawking)
- A city cop trying out a new segway (who knows where he scored it, but his cop friends were all talking about it so I know it's new)
- a stop light was twisted and knocked over, but was still functioning, so I knew when I could cross as a pedestrian, but not which direction to go. PICTURE (yes, that's exactly the one I was talking about, but it's not my picture)

Destruction
- The ped mall area is pretty messed up. All of those buildings are 100-150 years old and many of them are missing chunks of their roofs now. Most of the buildings are bars and restaurants, but some have apartments in their upper stories, so I hope everyone's okay. The starbucks looks seriously damaged, so caffeine addicts mourn today.
- Everything is covered in dirt and pieces of leaves. A small price to pay for no damage in my immediate vicinity.
- I just found pictures of Iowa Ave, where a lot of students live and a street I traverse very regularly. Really scary, since it could easily have been my building with the roof missing, and since I stayed in my second floor apartment (hiding in the closet) it would've been serious for me if my roof had blown off.

The atmosphere is 60% tacky gawking, 20% construction site, 10% sad, and 10% freakin humid.

(I'm updating a lot because I can't get my mind off of this. It's not that I see it as a curiosity or want others to look at it as a curiosity, but it's cathartic to talk about it, even through a blog. I love this town and I hate to see the damage done to it.)

If you've seen the news today you know Iowa City was hit by a huge tornado last night. I'm fine, and my building is fine, but my nerves just can't get a break because I keep hearing about how very close the storm damage is, meaning how very close the tornado got to me. From the press-citizen:

"Cars at the Kum & Go convenience store at Burlington and Gilbert streets remained at the gas pumps, just as they were when the storm hit. Only now they were damaged and covered in debris. Stoplights at the intersection were twisted in the opposite way they originally stood."
(about 5 blocks south of here)

"Several large windows in the new Plaza Towers building were broken out, and police roped off the area." [three blocks south of here]

I'm going to walk to my office soon (classes are cancelled, but I have work to do!) I'll post again if I see anything wild.